Giallo a Venezia (1979)

In Venice a detective is on the trail of a killer who commits a double murder (a married couple) then more grisly killings occur. Sex, drugs, gore and perversions are ingredients of this sadistic and sleazy giallo.

Director:

Mario Landi

Writer:

Aldo Serio (screenplay)

Stars:

Leonora Fani, Jeff Blynn, Gianni Dei

Cast

Cast overview:
Leonora Fani	...	Flavia
Jeff Blynn	...	Insp. Angelo De Pol
Gianni Dei	...	Fabio
Michele Renzullo	...	Andrea Caron
Eolo Capritti	...	Maestrin
Vassili Karis	...	Bruno Nielsen (as Vassili Karamesinis)
Giancarlo Del Duca	...	Alberto, the Coroner
Mariangela Giordano	...	Marzia (as Maria Angela Giordan)

Storyline

Inspector Angelo De Pol (Jeff Blynn) is assigned to the case of a double murder in Venice, the victims were a married couple. He suspects that a psycho killer in on the loose, however during the investigation the inspector discovers that the husband was a sex maniac and a drug addict. Soon afterwards bloody killings begin to occur.

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Plot Keywords:

hard boiled egg | sexual pleasure | graphic nudity | extreme sexual content | sexy woman | 

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

31 December 1979 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Mystery in Venice

Filming Locations:

Venice, Veneto, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Elea Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 99 min (uncut)

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of the soundtrack is recycled from "Interrabang" (1969), a movie composer Berto Pisano had scored years earlier. Some pieces in this movie can be also heard in "Burial Ground," another movie produced by Gabriele Crisanti and scored by Pisano.

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Goofs

In one scene, a man and a woman are having sex and her bare breasts are visible. However, in one facial shot of the man during the same sequence, we can see her reflection in his sunglasses and she is clearly wearing a bra.

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Connections

Referenced in Il ritorno del maestro (Return of the Master) (2018)

User Reviews

Sleazy but ultimately rubbish.

This is sleazy. I've seen the English subtitled Luminous print of this film, and it is safe to report that as a giallo it fails miserably on every level. Not only is there a weak plot and zero suspense, but there is also laughably no attempt to conceal the identity of the killer who is in fact revealed in the first ten minutes or so of the film. Clearly Landi was aware of his shortcomings as a giallo director and so therefore decided to make up for it with lashings of jaw-droppingly misogynistic sexual violence, which he again showed a passion for in his later film "Patrick Lives Again".

A couple of scenes really stick out for absolute, grimy nastiness. Firstly, the vaginal stabbing of the prostitute. This scene has more parallels to old hardcore porn loops than it does the giallo genre, with poorly lit and explicit prolonged close-ups, shot on grainy stock. Secondly, the scene where Mariangela Giordano gets her leg sawed up. Even though the effects are poor, the absolute sadism and overall atmosphere makes you feel pretty sordid for watching it. It kinda reminded me of the similar (but more nasty) scene in The Last House On Dead End Street...

But is this enough to make this film good? NO. This is a failure as a giallo, and is only worth anything because of the outrageous violence.